The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1887-06-24

How many loaves OF bread he distributed,
how many bare feet he had sandaled,
how many cots or sickness and distress
he blessed with ministries OF
kindness and love, do not know; but
from the way he lived, and the way
he preached. and the way he died, /
know he was a leborious Christian. But
that is all over now. He has pressed the
cup to the fast faiuting Lip. He has tax.
en- the last insult from his enemies. The
last stone to whose crushing weight he is
susceptible has been hurledi stephen is
dead. The disciples come. They take
him up They wash away the blood from
the wounds. They straighten out the
bruised limbs They brush back thu
tangled hair from the brow. and then
they pass around TO look upon the calm
countenance of him who had lived for the
poor and died for the truth.
Stephen asleepi I have seen the sea
driven with the hurricane until the tan
gled foam caught in the rigging, and
wave rising above wave seemed as it
about to storm the Heavens, and then
have seen the tempest DROP, and the
waves crouch, and everything become
smooth and FURNISHED as though camp
ing place for the glories of heaven. So I
q
tics sed and driven, coming down at last 10
an Infinite calm in which thcre was the
hush of Heavens lullaby. Stephen
asleep! l saw such an one. He fought
all his days against poverty and
abuse. They traduced his name. They
ratified at the door-knob while he was
dying with duns of debts he could not
pay: yet the peace Of God brooded over
his pillow. and while the world fadei,
Heaven dawned. and the deepening twi-
light Of earth's night was only the open.
ing twilight of Heavens morn. Not a
sigh. Not a tear. Not struggle. Hushi
Stephen asleep.
have not the faculty to tell the wealth
er. can never tell by the setting sun
| whether there will be drought or not. I
can not tell by the blowing of the wind
whether il VIII be fair weather or foul
on the morrow. But l can prophesy,
and l will prophesy, what weather
it will be when you. the Christian,
come to die. You may have it very rough
| now II NAV be this week ore annoyance,
| the next another annoyance. 1t may bs
| this year one bereavement. the next an
| other bereavement. Before this year has
passed you NAV have to beg for bread. or
ask for a scuttIe of coal or a pair of shoes ;
but spread your death couch amid thu
leaves of the forest, or make it out of the
straw of a pauper's hut, the wolf Of the
| jungle bowling close by, or inexorabls
creditors jerking the pillow from under
your dying head-Christ will come in
! and darkness will go out. And though
there may be no hand to close your eyes,
| and no breast on which TO rest your
| dying head, and no candle to lift the
| night. the odor of Gods hanging garden
will reeale your soul, and at your bedside
will halt the chariots Of the king. M
more rents to pay, no more agony because
-four has gone up. no more struggle with
| .'the world, the flesh and the DEVIL but
peacs-long, deep, everlasting peace
stephen sleep!
| Asleep in Jesus. blessed sleep.
From which none ever wake to weep:
| A calm and undisturbed repose,
Uniniured by the last of foes
| Asleep in Jesus, far from thee
| Thy kindred and their graves may be:
| But there is still a blessed sleep.
From which none ever wake to weep.
You have seen enough for one morning.
| No one can successfully examine more
than five pictures in day. Therefore. we
stop. having seen this cluster of divine
Raphaels-Siephcn gazing into heaven
Stephen looking at Chris: Stephen
stoned: Stephen in his dying prayer
/ Stephen asleep